Management Thoughts for Entrepreneurs

When Entrepreneurs hear “Business Plan,” they get worried that they might have to prepare a thick document with graphs, projections and glossy visuals.

In reality, having a business plan is conceptual. If you don’t have a plan in your mind that is crisp and to the point, putting lots of words (and graphs, spreadsheets, visuals) on paper isn’t going to help.

What should this simple business plan include:

What are you doing? Describe your product or service in simple , non-technical terms

Why are you doing this? Is there a need in the market place? What is the size of the market or need? What share do you expect to get? Are there competitors? Why are you better? What challenges/barriers are there? Do you have proprietary technology?

How and where are you going to do this? Describe your organization to design, manufacture/provide, deliver/distribute your offering. What are your selling channels and how will you reach your potential customers?

Whom do you have to support you? Review your management team and key personnel

What are the economics? How will you make money and how long will it take? How much do you need and how much will you make? How realistic are your numbers?

This is it – plain and simple. If you have thought through all these questions you are almost there. Practice your pitch and perfect it. Now put it in a nice, readable, short presentation and you are done.